....and he has a broken train, besides all that. 1) Have you used Kato Mike replacement tires (pn 810000) on the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0? How did that work out? 2) Have you "glued" or otherwise bonded the tires to the driver? How did that work out? Have you had to swap tires since glueing them? 3) How far apart did you need to take the loco to be able to do the tire swap or repair? 4) Any gotchas to watch out for? Thanks. Story follows for those interested: A couple of weekends ago, I did a 7-hour recertification and testing session on my Unitrack K-1 loop on the dinette. I had just taken a Kato Mike off a 31 car train it hauled without a slip. The next one up was one of my favorites - Western Maryland 2-8-0 #763. Alas, instead of starting the train, it spun its wheels, and with the first turn, it walked out of the tire on the fireman's side. I set it aside, and just worked on it finally today. I used two toothpicks to gently "mount" the tire on the rim -er- wheel. I notice both tires are so loose, the wheel can slip inside the tire. Have you had this happen? The loco has over 60 hours of use, of which about 20 hours would qualify as break-in and testing, with a light load. The other 40 hours have been NTrak running, with the same train of 38 cars, which includes 20 "fly-weight" MT 2-bay WM hoppers, a LL NE caboose in the steam era "Fast Freight" scheme, and 17 standard weight MT freight cars. 38 cars is all it will pull on our NTrak layout because it stalls on the dips at module joints. It would probably haul a few more if you ran it fast enough to fly over these dips using the momentum of the train.
LT: Take some clear nail polish and paint the traction tire rim with a very thin coat. Then re-install the original tire on the rim. Stay cool and run steam....
I've had one traction tire come off a Bachmann 2-8-0; it went back on without incident, and stayed on. I had one come off a Con-Cor 4-8-4; it went back on, but kept coming back off. After a few tries, I just removed them form both sides. In the past, I used a tiny drop of thin superglue to re-attach a tire to a Rowa 2-8-8-2--it's still there. I think it may be hit-or-miss . . .
I have 3 Bachmann Consolidations, including the one I blew up. Only one had a finicky tire. It did not fly off, but did come off the wheel. It went right back on with the careful use of two pairs of tweezers, one to hod the tire in place and the other to slide the tire over the opposite rim.
I disconnected the tender and pulled the main crankpin/eccentrics, took out 3 screws, popped the railings out of the back wall of the cab and dropped the retainer plate. Both tires had thin spots, like a rubber band gets before it breaks, so I did not glue them on. I replaced them with Kato TT replacement tires. They are a snug fit, and I have never had one fail. Used a toothpick to pack the gear teeth and the main axle bearing cellars with LaBelle's #106 plastic compatible teflon grease. LaBelle's is not conductive, but most of the electrons are collected by the tender on a Bachmann steamer anyway. Conducta-lube or one of the similar products would have been better, but I'm out. Maybe in another 60 hours of use, when I lube it next time? Reistalled the TT driver, re-quartered the mechanism, remounted the pony wheels to the retainer plate, and reinstalled the retainer plate, running the screws back in where I found them, but not "too" tight, as I had previously loosened them slightly to get rid of a minor bind. Lined up the rods and drove the main crankpins back in, aligning the eccentric cranks for proper valve gear motion. Re-attached the grab irons to the rear wall of the cab, and reattached the tender. It is track testing on a 2x3 foot oval of Unitrack on the dinette right now. 3 MT log cars and a caboose doesn't make much of a train, but it is doing some work, and there is somewhere to hang the markers, at least. It actually runs smoother with the Kato tires, I think. The Kato tires are harder, and will probably last longer. 60 hours is nothing to complain about, however. The loco is what - 3 years old? The Kato tire does not have as much "tooth" so I have probably given up a couple of cars of TE. It did 38 cars before. As long as it will do 30, that is a reasonable load. Next time I do certifications, I will retest it and reclassify it for NTrack use. I think my total time including a study of the parts diagram, and setting up the test track, was about one hour. I had never had this loco apart. I oiled the crankpins and other exposed rod motion about every 10 hours of use, but the guts are still running factory lube, exept for the exposed gears and the main axle cellars I just packed. Hope this information is useful. Kato part number is 810000 for the rubber parts only, and you get 10 tires for $3.
